ATLANTA (AP) — Sahith Theegala left the Tour Championship on Saturday with a clear conscience after calling a two-shot penalty on himself for an infraction only he could see, an honorable move considering all the money at stake in the FedEx Cup finale.
“I’d sleep a lot better if I saw some clear image of me moving the sand,” he said.
That’s what made the decision so remarkable. Theegala is not the first golfer to call a penalty on himself that would have gone unnoticed. But the video replay of his shot from a bunker on the third hole at East Lake didn’t make it clear he had done anything.
“Pretty sure I breached the rules, so I’m paying the price for it, and I feel good about it,” Theegala said after a 5-under 66, which includes the two-shot penalty. “I’m not 100% sure. But I’d say I’m 98, 99% sure that some sand was moved.
“I’ve just played so much golf. You spend so much time of your life staring down at the lie you have, the ball you have, and it just did not feel like a normal fairway bunker shot. It felt like some of the sand moved.”
His response was equally remarkable — seven birdies on the back nine to move into third place, still nine shots behind Scottie Scheffler and four shot back of Collin Morikawa.
The FedEx Cup pays $25 million to the winner, $12.5 million for second place and $7.5 million for third pace.
Theegala was coming off a birdie on the par-3 second hole when his tee shot splashed into a bunker right of the fairway, rolled up the slope and back down into where it had landed. It was an unusual lie, but good for making contact.
“I usually pick up the club and take it back, but because of the lie, right on my backswing I felt like I moved a few grains of sand, for sure,” he said. “In my peripheral, I thought I saw some of the sand move as I took my backswing.”
He immediately told his playing partner, Xander Schauffele, what happened. Schauffele wasn’t sure it was penalty without intent.
“But unfortunately the rule is it doesn’t matter the intent. If you change the lie in the direct area around the ball that could affect your swing, it is a two-shot penalty,” Theegala said.
He doesn’t think hardly any sand moved, but that wasn’t the point. Theegala feels sand moved on his back swing and “maybe it did improve it.” The shadow from the sun made it hard to determine with absolute certainly.
“You couldn’t see any sand come up. That’s how little sand we’re talking about,” he said. “I wish I could see it on video. I’m still going to sleep great. Whatever, two shots, I feel good about it. I think it was a penalty. I think I moved sand. Just a weird situation.”
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